City left in Roman ruin!

BOTTOM club West Brom piled the pressure on Manchester City boss Mark Hughes with a stoppage-time smash and grab yesterday.

Hughes really is under the cosh now as City’s Arab money men must increasingly wonder whether he’s the man they trust to blow their millions in the transfer market.

You know the story: men from the East coming laden with gifts looking for a messiah – but if Sparky is their footballing saviour, he had better turn the tide soon.

For, as everyone knows, the story isn’t complete without a Roman coming along to ruin everything – and Albion had just the man in striker Roman Bednar, who turned this into a festive horror story for Hughes and City’s disgruntled fans.

Some of them even joined in when Baggies supporters taunted Hughes with “You’re getting sacked in the morning”.

True, City were without the likes of Robinho, Jo and Elano, but this is developing into a full-blown crisis.

Hughes stood hands on hips in his technical area as the home fans went wild at Bednar’s 91st-minute headed goal, which completely caught the visitors out.

Albion boss Tony Mowbray stood hands aloft, hardly daring to believe that his men were within seconds of a much-needed win.

The big striker leapt to meet Gianni Zuiverloon’s long ball and managed to loop it over keeper Joe Hart to plunge the knife in City.

Up to this match, West Brom had taken just two points from the last 30, while City’s dismal run has seen them plummet into the bottom three.

Before Bednar scored, City looked like they had just got themselves out of jail when substitute Felipe Caicedo levelled things up with an audacious backheel with just six minutes left.

He somehow managed to squeeze the ball past keeper Scott Carson and in off the post to cancel out Luke Moore’s 69th-minute goal, which had put Albion ahead.

Moore’s first goal for the club since his £3m move from neighbours Aston Villa sparked frenzied scenes among the Hawthorns faithful, who haven’t had much to celebrate just lately.

James Morrison sprang the City defence with a great through ball to put Moore clear and he made no mistake with a cool low shot to put Mowbray’s men ahead.

They could easily have gone further in front when Hart ran into Bednar as he tried to collect a cross, dropped the ball and was judged to have been fouled just as sub Graham Dorrans rolled the ball into the net.

Albion must have felt the footballing gods were conspiring against them yet again when City grabbed an equaliser, but Bednar had other ideas with his late festive cracker, which gives Albion renewed hope that they can plot another ‘Great Escape’.

Mowbray’s side had the slight edge in a first half that understandably had a nervy edge.

With confidence brittle on both sides, you just sensed that the opening goal could expose all sorts of frailties to the side which fell behind.

And, in fairness, it was so nearly City when they were a shade lucky to come out unscathed when Bednar’s 31st-minute shot caught them unawares.

The striker was set up by a great Paul Robinson through ball, but there didn’t appear to be any immediate danger as he found himself 20 yards out but at a difficult angle.

Bednar had other ideas, though, and, to his credit, fired off a speculative shot which suddenly had Hart in a right pickle.

It squeezed between Hart and his right-hand post, struck the foot of the upright and then bounced away via the back of the unsuspecting keeper’s head.

That apart, clear-cut opportunities had been thin on the ground, although Benjani was mightily relieved to see the assistant flag for handball just as he hacked a great opportunity over the bar from close in.

Gelson Fernandes did force Carson to move smartly to catch his first-time shot shortly before the break.

Prior to that, Shaun Wright-Phillips also went close when the former Chelsea man was unlucky to see Robinson get in the way of his first-time shot in the 21st minute, with the defender’s intervention diverting the ball way over.

After the break, it was City who caused a few anxious moments among the home fans when Pablo Zabaleta set up Wright-Phillips for a crack at goal in the 53rd minute.

The winger seized the opportunity and rifled the ball towards the Baggies goal, only to see it strike keeper Carson and cannon away off his legs.

Carson then had to go full length low down to keep out a shot from Caicedo, who had been called into action after Benjani had pulled up on the far side with just under an hour gone.

Bednar should have done better when the ball was gifted to him by Richard Dunne’s momentary lapse in concentration, but only managed a tame shot.

But Mowbray, joining in a huddle with his delighted team at the end, just about said it all as Hughes was left to oversee another painful post-mortem.